{fall}

**i had text at the beginning...but it wouldn't let me cut and paste it at the top once the pics were added, so view first and read about our fun weekend later....and, yes, i know, there are a LOT of pictures...A LOT!**

my beautiful elizabeth...

while jilly and kate napped she raked and gathered and jumped and played all by herself....and she LOVED every second of it...she is such an independent player most of the time

it wasn't a big pile of leaves, but it was big enough to delight her heart

leaf rubbings

at first kater wasn't so sure about jumping (as a side note...doesn't that water look "brrrrr"!?)

my second little beauty

and finally jilly woke up and joined us!

i just like the unusualness of this pic

my third little beauty

all three beauties!

okay...seriously, this pic makes me smile. it is life...not pristine posed smiles, real life smiles...ask kate to hug jilly, instead she looks like she is choking her...but jilly is still smiling...perfectly captures the moment...seriously, moment...as in immediately after this picture the only one left on the bench was jilly...and she was gone quickly too!

pumpkin fantasyland
the wizard of oz display...for you grandma f. :)

my girlies

this was one of my favorites at pumpkin fantasyland...i just love his expression...and yes, that is a gourd for his head! :) pumpkin fantasyland is a bunch of character displays all using pumpkins as the character heads, etc....really cute, especially if you are 3 and 5!

kate and libs with poppy...they sure do love him A LOT! (no worries grandmommy...they love you too...you just managed to avoid all the pictures!)

sisters in the straw maze

this time poppy broke out the leaf blower and helped the girls make a much bigger leaf pile

they had a blast!

leaf angels

too funny!

burying poppy...they even put the trashcan over his head....then he jumped out at them! :)

can you find me? yep...i joined in on the leaf-y fun! (i feel like i still have leaves in my hair)....i tried to join in on a picture at pumpkin fantasyland...on a slanted rock...i was planning to hold kate...we sat down and proceeded to slide right off...onto the gravel...embarrassing...a bit painful, and needless to say, no group shot was attempted after that. :)

sisters again....love that after taking turns rolling each other in the can they decided to climb in together without prompting...

"mommy. do you know why they call it 'fall'? because it is when the leaves fall!"
~wisdom from elizabeth :)

last weekend the girls and i took a quick and impromptu trip to the lake to visit grandmommy and poppy. we couldn't have asked for lovelier weather (or more perfect leaves for jumping in!). the only thing that would have made the trip better was if daddy had been able to join us. but bless his heart...he stayed home and worked on the unending list of house projects...installing a new toilet, fixing a leaky sink, cleaning out the garage (after all the kitchen projects, etc....his car is going to make it back to the garage before the dead of winter--actually hopefully by the end of the weekend). not only did he work on household projects, he also represented our family at applesauce day 2010...bringing home around 65 quarts of extremely tasty applesauce (and one bee sting on his hand!)....what a man! :)

it really was a fabulous weekend. the bigger girls were the perfect age for raking, scooping, and jumping in the leaves. and jilly...well, she just loved exploring everything...it is her first trip to the lake as a walker...so she was able to check everything out on a whole new level! one of my favorite things was watching her react to the bigger girls reacting to poppy. and poppy brought these 3D viewfinders (think old school red viewfinder!) home from work...they were a marketing tool and the cartoon made no sense whatsoever to elizabeth and kate, but oh my, they would sit and click through the pictures over and over and over...so thrilled!

i was able to rest from the norm....and enjoy lots of canasta and iPod "scrabble" with my mom. once the girls were tucked in bed we would sit at the table playing canasta while passing the iPod back and forth for "words with friends"...so fun! i must admit, i was thoroughly trounced at canasta several times. we also enjoyed visiting with GG...tasty food (even a batch of homemade caramel corn!)...and lots of laughing. :)

our days

(okay...the lighting is horrid...but seriously, doesn't this picture make you want to grab jilly and eat her up!)

little snippets...

the past two weeks have been a bit of a blur...actually, make that the past two months....or even years maybe...

our days and weeks have settled into a bit of a routine though.

mondays find the big girls at "school"...daddy takes--leaving the house around 7:45, while i am still finishing breakfast and coffee and jilly is still sleeping. then jilly and i pick them up in the afternoon around 2:45. while kate and libs are gone jilly and i have some extra time to play; then while she naps (sweet blessed blissful still napping twice a day girl) i do all the laundry and lots of picking up....and then we tend to run a few errands before pick up time.

last monday i finished some cleaning up and decided to break out my sewing machine and do something with the elephant fabric i bought months ago....voila...a jilly outfit. i plan to have her wear a long sleeve shirt under it, because seriously, it is getting downright chilly here in indiana (hooray!).

tuesdays and wednesdays are our "at home" days...relaxing, playing, some school time while jillian is napping. both of the big girls LOVE school-time...they would do workbook pages for hours--especially kate, she did almost an entire Kumon tracing book in just an hour....and we do lots of reading. typically we've been trying to hit the library every other week...coming home with a bag busting at the seams with books, and then popping popcorn, snuggling up and reading the morning away. oh...and games...lots and lots of game playing and puzzles...this morning alone we played "word world match" (like memory but with word world characters), chutes and ladders, puppy dog bingo, and cranium cariboo...

elizabeth is working through the "explode the code" workbooks...i love that they incorporate reading AND writing. while she was gung-ho about reading, for quite awhile she was "reluctant" when it came to writing, so it was nice that this involved writing without her really realizing it! :) now, however, she has gone crazy with writing...give the girlie a blank notebook and pen or pencil and she will write and write and write...sounding out words, lots of phonetic spellings. lately she loves drawing pictures for her friends and then sounding out and writing their name on them, or creating her own "games" in the notebook...it is precious! we are also working through some "hooked on phonics" and using the "happy phonics" program--which is fun for both girls.



kate just started "get ready for the code"--the -primer for "explode the code"...and she is really enjoying it. she could sit all day tracing letters, etc...but she isn't quite able to "freehand" most of them yet...so that part of the books is a bit over her level, but i'm sure she'll amaze me and get there so quickly!

thursdays are MOPS day...whether it is a weekly meeting, steering meeting, or a meeting with my discussion group leaders...it pretty much fills up the morning on thursday between the drive there and back...and it is nice to get out of the house.

and then friday...the blissful "daddy only works a half day" day. we love fridays. lately we've had a lot of pizza picnic friday evenings...and every other week we have flock group (our small group for church), which is always exciting--especially since there are as many kiddos (most of them 5 and under) in our group as there are adults!

and finally...our newest endeavor...cloth diapering. so i thought about going cloth before jilly was born, and then scored some fab deals on disposables and headed that route. but when we found out we were going to welcome #4 i got more serious in my research. i had lots of suggestions, and then a sweet friend let me borrow her stash, which was mostly bumgenius 3.0. oh my goodness...i always *thought* cloth diapers would be inconvenient, messy, and stinky...but they weren't. actually, my house smells better (why wouldn't it since i am flushing the "stink" away!) and it is no harder than disposables (and seriously, as much laundry as i already do, how much harder is a load of diaps a few times a week!). i even cloth diapered at my parents this past weekend when we were out of town, and it wasn't a big deal! needless to say, we're hooked. we decided to go ahead and start jilly now, using mostly the flip system (i'm using prefolds for the liners rather than their "official liners" since a friend loaned them to me for free--can't beat that price!--but i love the disposable insert option for when we travel, etc!) by cotton babies. however, with the new baby i will be using bumgenius 4.0, and honestly, as our stash grows (a sweet friend is even hosting a "cloth diaper shower" for me...and we've been blessed in the diaper department already!) i will likely use those for jilly much of the time as well...i just like the pocket diaper convenience! for now i have two of the 4.0s (bought during a "seconds" clearance sale at cotton babies)--and we haven't even used those yet, three flip covers (and 12 inserts--two official flip inserts we are borrowing and newborn sized prefolds-which are the perfect fit-we've been loaned). i've spent a grand total of $50 at this point, and jilly is cloth diapered full time (aside from nights...mostly because we have generous stash of size 4s in the closet already)...definitely a cost savings...better for the environment...cute little tushie...and seriously, cloth diapering just kind of gives me the same satisfaction as milling my own wheat (its okay...you can call me weird!). that may be more than you wanted to know...but if you are enticed and want more info, let me know! :)

a belated birthday wrap-up

i promised more birthday pics...and that was over a week ago. but, here goes! :)

upon arrival, each little princess received a pink and purple tutu and some princess coloring pages...they squealed and chattered and giggled.

then there was some crafting....foam tiaras and glittery foam wands...and, yes, there is still glitter in the carpet and spread throughout the house. :) my dearest hubby was a prince...seriously, 5 little girls...lots of squealing, glittering, twirling, etc...and he was the only males in the vicinity! :)


after the crafting we headed outside for some "pin the kiss on the frog"...so, so fun! :)

caroline was crafty...she realized there was a piece of tape where the mouth was and used her fingers to "feel" where her kiss should go! :)

and, of course, there was a princess cake (elizabeth was thrilled by my cake creation...and i was thrilled with how it turned out as well!)...and a "5" candle...and singing...

...and far more sugar than anyone ever really needs...unless, of course, you happen to be turning five...

there was opening of presents...love that i captured her delight in opening the wrapping and discovering "the beauty and the beast"

and seriously...how cute is this...all five of the girls were SO beyond thrilled by the littlest pet shop (and i was delighted that we found it clearanced for 50% off!). there was much gathering and playing around the pet shop after mike put it all together! :)

the five princesses

caroline and elizabeth (and tinkerbell and belle and donuts)

riley, elizabeth, and ellie

we capped the day off with a pizza picnic (pineapple pizza)...elizabeth's request for her birthday dinner...watching "beauty and the beast".


what a fabulously fun day. for the record elizabeth's favorite thing to tell people these days is "i'm already five!"...well that and some other secret news that we'll divulge someday soon...unless you see us in person and elizabeth decides to spill the beans first. :)

best of intentions

i had the best of intentions...

i was planning to blog this week...

i was...really...

to share more from elizabeth's birthday party....

to give a peek into our days...

to share some pics of the sweet outfit i have been sewing for jillian...

...and on and on...

but, alas, life just keeps moving, and i've barely had time to check e-mail, much less post a blog...

...i have been cleaning...and reading library books....and sewing....and disciplining...and trying to keep up with jillian (who is into everything...and i do mean everything).

...i have been doing more cleaning...a bit of cooking...visiting a friend...napping...more disciplining...and more cleaning (in fact, mostly cleaning the same areas and things over and over and over again....).

...and now instead of putting up that nice blog post full of pictures and smiles and so forth, i am going to head upstairs and do some packing...for an impromptu trip to visit my parents this weekend...just the girls and myself...as my dearest hubby has oh.so.many little projects to keep him busy at home...projects much more easily accomplished with an empty house. :) we will miss him...but we will surely be in good hands...

...and tonight instead of blogging i will be enjoying a date night with that dearest hubby...did you hear my sigh of contentment?! yes, it will be nice. :)

...and so friends...i promise, promise, promise i will get back to updating my little blog just as soon as i return...

birthday math (otherwise titled...a sneak peek!)

one birthday girl

+
one princess cake

+
5 little princesses (and crafts and games and giggles and squeals)

=
a really fun, really silly birthday party


can't wait to show you more! :)

this evening as mike came walking up the driveway carrying the pineapple pizza (the birthday girl's special request) and i laid out the picnic sheets and put her brand new copy of "beauty and the beast" in the bluray player, a certain little birthday girl sighed and commented, "this has been the best day EVER..." i hope so sweet girl...that was just what mommy intended!

now she and her sisters are tucked away in bed...lets hope sleep comes quickly (and maybe even last late into the morning?!)--hey, a mama can dream, right!?

in other 5 year old news, tonight she asked daddy just how the baby was going to come out of me. he he! and then proceeded to tell us that she was planning to someday have one baby...when we asked if that was all, she said, "no, i will have another one the next year." we asked how many babies she wanted to have someday when she was married...her response "ten hundred, i think." oi!

{five}

the happiest of birthdays to you libber-girl!

there is so, so much i could say, but for now i will leave it with this. you are such a treasure, and we love you!